....You rarely find a Spaniard in the founding narratives of this country. 

The early colonial history of Florida is, however, largely a Spanish story. And this brings us back to Juan Ponce de León. Ponce de León, as everyone knows who has ever heard of Ponce de León, came to Florida seeking the Fountain of Youth. 

Stories about The Fountain of Youth had been in circulation since ancient times. The ancient Greek historian Herodotus speaks about a Fountain of Youth. 

The Fountain was said to be a magical place. Immersing yourself in its waters would bring to any man or woman a renewed state of youthfulness. In the 16th century Caribbean of Ponce de León, the story of a New World Fountain of Youth was being circulated by a tribe of Native Americans known as Arawaks.

 According to the Arawaks, there was a land called Bimini to the Northwest. Bimini was said to contain great riches and restorative waters. And so, when Ponce de León took off toward the northwest, eventually stumbling upon Florida, the legend arose that he was really looking for The Fountain of Youth.

In fact, Ponce de León cared nothing for fountains. He was looking for something more tangible. Gold. Barring gold, he would take riches of any kind. Barring riches, he would accept cheap labor. 

Ponce de León, we should be clear, was a man after fortune. Most of the early conquistadors — the Spaniards who conquered the Aztecs, Incas, and other New World civilizations — were looking for gold. Ponce de León was more than happy to steal whatever gold he could find from the native inhabitants he encountered. 

But there wasn’t enough gold to be found that way. So, Ponce de León started up mining operations. He needed labor for those mines. 

On the island of Puerto Rico and on Hispaniola (the island split between Haiti and the Dominican Republic) Ponce de León went about forcing the Native American populations into becoming a cheap labor supply. The Native tribes sometimes, understandably, resisted this process. But Ponce de León was quite skilled at killing them when they tried.

The Spanish plan was to do pretty much the same thing in Florida as they had been doing throughout what is now Latin America. 

Wealth was extracted from the land by means of what has since become known as the hacienda system. The hacienda system wasn’t exactly slavery. It was forced labor at cheap prices, all of it kept in place by means of the gun. 

The Catholic Church helped too. The Jesuits and Franciscans in the New World were direct beneficiaries of the hacienda system, often owning vast tracts of land.

 A number of Missions were set up all around Florida in the 16th and 17th centuries. The hacienda system was revving its engines. All this ground to a halt in the mid 18th century, when Spain agreed to give Florida to the British in exchange for Cuba.

But for the accidents of history, Florida might today resemble the Dominican Republic, or even Haiti. That is to say, it would be what we refer to as a Third World or, more politely, a “developing” country. 

Instead, as we all know, Florida ended up as one of the United States of America. Before we start feeling good about this turn of events, let’s remind ourselves of what the British and then Americans were doing in those days. 

The Anglos wanted to replace the Spanish hacienda system with their own labor system, which was based upon African slavery. So Florida was, in effect, moving from a forced labor system into a slave labor system.